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Nuclear ice breaker (Yamal) saves researchers
Translation of the original article courtesy of Neven and his Arctic Sea Ice blog.
The mission is in full swing and spectacular: in the Arctic Ocean Russian researchers are being saved by the ice breaker Yamal. The ice floe below their research station is breaking apart. It's a race against time, because temperaures are anomalously high and the ice continues to melt.
(...)
The cracks in the 2 to 4 metre thick ice floe are endangering the safety of the scientists and could lead to the loss of valuable research materials. On top of this, oil and waste from the station could spill and contaminate the pristine landscape off the Canadian coast.
Evacuation costs 1.5 million euros
Boxes, shacks and even sled dogs: the helicopter picks up the components of the research station SP-40 and lifts it with an arm-thick rope aboard the "Yamal". The evacuation will cost Russia around 1.5 million euros.
"The floe has already broken into six fragments, each about 100 by 150 meters in size," Captain Stanislav Rumyantsev explains. His 31-man crew is working around the clock. "We have to hurry", says the commander of the 75,000-hp icebreaker. The nuclear-powered ship had arrived at the weekend in the Beaufort Sea, and since then the evacuation has been in full swing.
Air temperatures of -4 degrees Celsius, a wind speed of 9 metres per second and a visibility of ten kilometres: benign weather conditions for the rescuers, says Rumyantsev. In Musrmansk, Yamal's home port, Yekaterina Ananjewa of the company Atomflot estimates that work will soon be completed. "The ship only need 7 days to reach the station, which is 1,600 kilometres from Canada. 5 days earlier than planned. We could start straight away, everything is going well," says Ananjewa.
http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/2013/06/yamal-to-the-rescue.html#more
(...)
The cracks in the 2 to 4 metre thick ice floe are endangering the safety of the scientists and could lead to the loss of valuable research materials. On top of this, oil and waste from the station could spill and contaminate the pristine landscape off the Canadian coast.
Evacuation costs 1.5 million euros
Boxes, shacks and even sled dogs: the helicopter picks up the components of the research station SP-40 and lifts it with an arm-thick rope aboard the "Yamal". The evacuation will cost Russia around 1.5 million euros.
"The floe has already broken into six fragments, each about 100 by 150 meters in size," Captain Stanislav Rumyantsev explains. His 31-man crew is working around the clock. "We have to hurry", says the commander of the 75,000-hp icebreaker. The nuclear-powered ship had arrived at the weekend in the Beaufort Sea, and since then the evacuation has been in full swing.
Air temperatures of -4 degrees Celsius, a wind speed of 9 metres per second and a visibility of ten kilometres: benign weather conditions for the rescuers, says Rumyantsev. In Musrmansk, Yamal's home port, Yekaterina Ananjewa of the company Atomflot estimates that work will soon be completed. "The ship only need 7 days to reach the station, which is 1,600 kilometres from Canada. 5 days earlier than planned. We could start straight away, everything is going well," says Ananjewa.
http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/2013/06/yamal-to-the-rescue.html#more
